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  3. 180863-2019

Neutral Dac?

I’m curious to see people’s opinions on what they believe is the most uncolored dac? Every dac I’ve tried seems to be a flavor that deviates from neutrality in some way (smooths things over, too bright, too soft on transients, lacks bass etc...). Is there a dac that people believe gets all the fundamentals correct with leaving very little sonic footprint? What is the cost threshold needed to achieve it? I’m surprised at my own findings recently but really curious if anyone else has been searching for a fundamentally uncolored dac and what they’ve found.

   I realize the most obvious answer is "the dac with impeccable measurements" but I have also found some of them to sound unnatural (dry/bright).

schw06

Showing 1 response by verdantaudio

verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,469 posts
 

The most neutral DAC I have heard is the Rockna Wavedream.  The edition and signature tonally are the same.  You get more detail and an even bigger soundstage with the signature vs the edition.  
 

the thing about the Wavedream is the sound profile doesn’t really stand out in any way.  It is not bright nor is it warm.  The sound isn’t full but it also isn’t thin.  It isn’t forward but it isn’t laid back.  Etc….  It is hard to describe the sound because of this and in fairness, some folks find this a bit boring as the DAC is so exceedingly uncolored.  
 

I would say this is true across the dozens of DACs I have listened too ranging from the Khadas Tone 2 up to the MSB Reference.  

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